Russian Lawmaker Demands Ban On Gay Stamps

20 Oct 2014

Stamps depicting the homoerotic drawings of a Finnish artist should be banned from Russia according to a member of the St Petersburg Legislature. Vitaly Milonov has demanded Russia Post refuse to deliver letters with the stamps on because they are “homosexual propaganda” which is illegal in the country.

As previously reported on Breitbart London the Finnish postal service Itella introduced the stamps in honour of the artist Touko Laaksonen. Known as Tom of Finland, Laaksonen was famous for his homoerotic fetish which featured partially naked men.

Milonov has written to the head of Russia Post, Dmitry Strashnov, to say the stamps contravened laws passed in 2013, according to the Moscow Times.

In the letter he went on to say: “They are basically elements of homosexual propaganda, which is banned in our country. I ask the leadership of Russian Post to pay close attention to this request. In addition, I urge the Finns themselves, our close neighbours, to refrain from using these stamps when sending letters to Russia,”

He has suggested Russia Post return any letters sent with the stamps on them. His requests to have the stamps withdrawn are unlikely to succeed as many Finnish people are said to be proud of the artist. There have also been huge numbers of the stamps bought and they have been hailed as a commercial success.

When they were first issued Breitbart London contacted leading Finnish Christian groups in Britain and they all confirmed their support for the stamp collection.